Electric Vehicle News for North Central Washington

Over this past weekend, Plug-In North Central Washington had the pleasure of exhibiting at the 2014 Travel and Words Conference in Spokane, WA. The event was attended by 43 travel writers from throughout the Northwest and included representatives from Washington, Idaho, and Oregon. Also in attendance were 14 authors, editors, and publishers who served as presenters and facilitated workshops.

At the show I represented Plug-In North Central Washington and partnered with The Cascade Loop's Annette Pitts. Together we garnered tremendous attention with a presentation on being the world’s first fully electrified Scenic Highway with plentiful opportunities for EV tourism. The hour long team presentation included maps highlighting the beautiful Cascade Loop and describing the locations of all the electric car charging stations along the way. We conducted it in a bit of a “speed dating” format, with ten minute presentations rotating through six tables.

It made me feel proud to be part of this organization. Everyone at the conference was extremely impressed that Plug-In North Central Washington had the vision so many years ago to begin the process of putting in place an infrastructure that would one day stake a claim as the first EV-friendly destination highway. Our intent was to select one or two writers to do a tour this fall and drive the loop in an electric car and experience what fun a zero carbon footprint vacation can be. In the end, I believe we had over 30 writers and editors approach us with interest in doing the tour and writing articles about us. The enthusiasm was overwhelming and we will be discussing how to facilitate as many trips as possible.

We’ve already been invited to Oregon’s conference next year and are working to make Wenatchee the location for Travel and Words 2015.

After years of pushing for it, Plug-In North Central Washington is thrilled to announce the grand opening of the world’s first dedicated electric vehicle tourism corridor between Seattle and Wenatchee, Washington. The three DC Fast Charging stations and accompanying Level 2 stations will allow drivers of appropriately equipped electric vehicles (e.g. Nissan Leafs and Mitsubishi i-MiEVs with fast charging capability) to make the trip between the two regions and become EV tourists.

The nation’s first electric car-friendly scenic tourism route is moving right along. As previously announced, the Washington Department of Commerce—in collaboration with several partners, including the Plugin Center—will install two or three electric car fast charging stations using federal funds at yet-to-be-chosen locations along Highway 2 over Stevens Pass by the end of 2011.